


(you see them too)

by BananasofThorns



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Demons...???, I actually am kinda proud of this lol, Implied Relationships, It's spoooooky, Other, Supernatural Elements, i think i managed to get the Vibe???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 19:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananasofThorns/pseuds/BananasofThorns
Summary: "Okay," Nathaniel says. "Let's make a deal."





	(you see them too)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!!  
I've been waiting like a week to post this

“There's something in that room,” Aaron says. Andrew sighs; they have discussed this four times already.

“There is nothing in the room except dust and cobwebs.”

“No- _ listen _,” Aaron hisses, “to me. Have you not noticed all the unnatural shit that’s been going on?” He grabs Andrew’s wrist to keep him from leaving, but his hold is deliberately loose.

Andrew tugs his arm free with a glare. Just because strange things are happening does not mean their house is haunted. Sometimes, though, these _ things _ are just a bit too unnatural to pass off as wind or remnants of Kevin’s magic. 

Aaron interprets his silence correctly. “Exactly. Kevin’s said he’s felt it, too. Just check it out?”

“Are you unable to do it yourself?”

Aaron raises an eyebrow and looks pointedly at Andrew’s forearms. “That type of shit isn’t my specialty, and we both know Kevin can’t do it. Not anymore, not right now.”

Andrew sighs, almost inaudible, running his fingers over the runes embroidered on his armbands. They tingle under his fingertips, the sensation familiar and calming.

“Fine. Get out.” 

Aaron goes.

\---

Andrew does not look over when Kevin drops into a chair beside him at the table. He can see Kevin staring at him from the corner of his eye. When Andrew turns to fully face him, it’s clear that Kevin isn’t really looking at _ him. _ His eyes are distant as he flexes his left hand. It’s still stained black, inky tendrils of dark magic curled around his fingers and down his wrist.

Aaron slaps Kevin’s shoulder as he passes. “Stop it. You’re going to aggravate it and then I’ll have to take care of your sorry ass for even longer.”

Kevin drops his hand onto the table palm-down, chastised, but he doesn’t stop scrutinizing Andrew.

“What,” Andrew says, breaking the silence. Kevin’s pensive expression morphs into a frown.

“Aaron said you’re going to look at the room.”

“Yes.”

“It’s dangerous.” Kevin’s hand twitches on the table, but he doesn’t seem to notice. 

“I will be fine,” Andrew says, just as Aaron calls, “Kevin, don’t even fucking _ think _ about going in with him,” from the other room.

Kevin’s eyes fall to his hand. The curse is dark as night against his skin. If Andrew stares at it long enough, it almost seems to move, twisting around Kevin’s slightly shaky fingers. He tears his gaze away and puts a hand on Kevin’s chin, forcing his eyes up.

“Kevin,” he says, “nothing is going to happen to me.”

\---

“You have your knives?” Aaron asks like Andrew isn’t always wearing his armbands. 

Behind Aaron, Kevin staring just over their heads at the wall, his face pinched. Even from five feet away, Andrew can read the anxiety in his eyes. He returns his focus to his brother.

“May I?” Aaron asks, raising a hand. He gestures to Andrew’s forehead. 

Andrew nods stiffly. Aaron pushes his hair back with one hand, brows furrowed as he uses the other to draw a rune of protection. His hands drop as soon as he’s finished and he steps back, fingertips still stained with periwinkle magic.

Kevin moves closer, hovering over Aaron’s shoulder. Andrew feels, bizarrely, that he is saying goodbye to two worried parents. He pushes the sensation away.

“I should go with you,” Kevin starts. Aaron elbows him in the stomach, hard enough to act as a warning but light enough that Kevin doesn’t react beyond an annoyed frown.

“We’ll be here,” Aaron says. “Don’t die.”

It’s as close to caring as Aaron will get. Andrew nods at them and steps into the hallway. He doesn’t look back, but he can feel their eyes on his head as he turns the handle and steps inside. The runes on his forearms and face flare bright, brilliant lavender as the door slams shut behind him.

\---

The room is bigger than Andrew thought it would be. The lighting is weak, the floor stained faint silver as moonlight struggles through two windows on the opposite wall. Everything else fades into shadow. Andrew unsheathes one of his knives and steps further inside.

There is something else in the room; Andrew senses it as it creeps up to his shoulder. He turns and slams the butt of his knife into where he estimates its chest to be. The presence stumbles back. 

Andrew blinks away shadows dancing at the edges of his vision. A young man materializes on the ground, the heel of his hand pressed to his chest as he coughs. His hair glows and flickers like it’s trying to set itself aflame.

The man - entity - drops his hand and looks up. His eyes are frozen. Andrew feels like the man is looking straight through his chest to his soul, and his grip shifts so his knuckles are white on the hilt of his knife.

A slow, pleased smile spreads across the man’s face. “Hello, Andrew.

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

\---

They are at an impasse; Andrew’s knives cannot hurt the man, and the man cannot touch him. Andrew finds this annoying, but the man simply seems amused. His hair mixes with moonlight to cast his face in silver-gold shadow.

“You know my name,” Andrew says with his knife at the man’s throat, “but I do not know yours.”

The man tilts his head so the blade is pressed uselessly against his Adam’s apple. His eyes dance electric blue.

“You can call me Nathaniel.”

Andrew's eyebrow twitches as he notes the phrasing. “Nathaniel,” he repeats. The first part of the name burns his tongue and the second part soothes it with black ice. He stands. Nathaniel rises beside him, nearly eye-to-eye. “What are you doing in my house?”

\---

Andrew is not sure how long it has been since he stepped into the room. It has gotten neither lighter nor darker. Aaron and Kevin have not come to fetch his body, so it has probably not been long. That or they for once are keeping their promises.

“Okay,” Nathaniel says, shattering the silence and leaning towards Andrew with a dangerous grin slicing through his mouth. Andrew cannot tell if it is his eyes or his hair that shines more. “Let’s make a deal.”

Andrew looks him in the eyes and doesn’t back down.

The clatter of his knife falling from his hand is muffled by the carpet of dust on the floor.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: even though there is clearly backstory, I have no clue what it is


End file.
